The first high-speed train journey between Rome and Naples is exactly 15 years old. We are obviously talking about the first day in which the line, particularly busy and strategic (it is part of railway Axis 1 of the TEN-T trans-European conventional railway network, the same as the famous Turin-Lyon, which is part of Corridor 5), was opened to the public. It was in fact December 19, 2005, on the eve of a still "normal" Christmas, compared to what awaits us this year, and marked by the classic "exodus" towards the South (which is actually happening again these days, despite the restrictions).
The works for the high-speed section between the capital and the Campania capital (where today, in addition to Trenitalia's Frecciarossa and Frecciargento, Italo's convoys and the Mercitalia's MercitaliaFast train also transit), they began in 1994 and should have been concluded, in theory, in 1999. But a series of events of various kinds have instead generated a delay of several years on the roadmap: among these the classic obstacles of a bureaucratic nature, the equally classic problems of a judicial nature for some subcontracts, and moreover the financial difficulties and the finding along the route of some archaeological finds that further slowed down the work.
In the first two years of operation, the Roma-Napoli AV attracted the attention of numerous European and non-European railway administrations, being the first line that went into service in the world fully managed by the new “ERTMS/ETCS Level 2” signaling system (the highest currently available and which has a high level of automatic parameter control). In short, an absolutely avant-garde, fast and safe line. Until 2009 the line passed through Gricignano di Aversa, then that section was eliminated and therefore for 11 years Rome can be reached from Naples in just over an hour's journey.
